Category: Research Gems

#3: Colors of the Day

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June 11, 2020

11:50 pm

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Regency, Research Gems

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Like many readers of romance, I love fashion. I enjoy a good runway show—no matter when or where it is—and have been known to spend hours leafing through pages of fashion dos and don’ts or scrolling through hundreds of of red-carpet favorites and flops.

When I write historical romance, I always include a bit of fashion for my like-minded readers. Of course, I want the wardrobes of characters to be historically accurate (with only a little writer’s license from time to time), but I also want them to be fabulous. Or not. Continue reading “#3: Colors of the Day” →

#2: Puzzling

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June 4, 2020

7:08 am

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Authors, Regency, Research Gems, Writing Tips

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For the past several months I’ve been up to my eyes in research—okay, maybe only up to my neck. The point is that I’ve been doing a lot of research. And I love it.

One of the most fun things about writing fiction is that you get to make things happen any way you want. But sometimes it’s overwhelming to have the sky as the limit, which is why I enjoy writing historical romance.

Regency valentine rebus
A regency valentine to Anna.

With historicals, I’m still in control (as much as any writer ever is) of the characters and the plot, but the setting and the world my characters inhabit are constrained by history. So, for example, while my regency romance can have a heroine who talks back to a duke, she won’t be texting her comments to her adversary and she won’t be meeting him at Starbucks wearing a vinyl mini-skirt. The historical aspects of the setting provide the boundaries and guidelines that—at least for me—make the writing easier. Continue reading “#2: Puzzling” →